Teletrac Navman recently released results from a survey they conducted in March 2017 which contained input from over 1,200 fleet operations/management professionals across the globe. Pulling out 118 responses from individuals based in the U.S. that primarily operated in the transportation industry, the company was able to compose the 2017 Benchmark Survey: U.S. Transportation Edition. Results from the survey were as follows:

*41% listed managing costs as their top business challenge with payroll being the largest expense followed by fuel costs. Other expenses included maintenance, insurance, equipment and new vehicle purchases/leases. 25% cited regulatory changes, making it the number two business challenge among respondents. Tied at the number three spot at 23% were finding, retaining and developing talent as well as minimizing vehicle and driver incidents.

*When asked what their business goals were for the year, 39% stated reducing operational costs. Only 18% were concerned with driver retention and 6% with retaining customers.

*36% said that they planned on upgrading their fleet, making it the number two planned investment and thought to help reduce operational costs in the long run. Furthermore, 61% plan on increasing their fleet size within the next year.

*It comes as no surprise that 73% of respondents placed ELDs on the top of their list of compliance concerns with the larger fleets expressing greater confidence in being ready for the Dec. 18th implementation date.

*58% of carriers, like Road Scholar Transport, reward drivers for their performance while 42% do not. In fact, 37% admitted to not even monitoring their drivers’ performance.